Women’s strawweights Jaqueline Amorim and Montserrat Ruiz faced off as the third fight in on Saturday’s UFC Vegas 78 preliminary card.
Ruiz was looking to bounce back from a loss to Amanda Lemos, expected to compete for strawweight gold later this month. The Mexican had been out since that 2021 fight, however, while Amorim had debuted with the promotion earlier this year, coming up short against Sam Hughes.
Amorim went right after it to open Saturday’s contest, putting Ruiz against the fence then taking her down. Amorim worked to slide through to mount, while Ruiz clamped down on her leg. Amorim did end up mounting, working to set up an arm-triangle, while dropping ground n’ pound. Amorim had Ruiz flattened out, and still had half a round on the clock. Some big blows forced Ruiz to cover up; Amorim trapped an arm, and was just having her way with the Mexican strawweight.
A warning to avoid the back of the head had Amorim wary, but she continued to drop bombs while Ruiz tried to roll to create a scramble. Instead, Amorim latched on with a body triangle, then transitioned to a picture-perfect arm-bar! Ruiz rolled with it, eventually getting on top, but she was badly out of position. Still, a solid show of guys and defense, though Ruiz would have to endure a downpour of hammerfists before being saved by the bell.
Coming off a possible 10-8 round, Ruiz looked to strike her way in, but within a minute ate a head ate clean. Despite that, it was Ruiz landed on top as the pair went down. Amorim quickly swept and got on top, firing hammerfists and locking in another body triangle. Throughout the fight, Amorim had bullied Ruiz, and there was more of that in round two with Ruiz in a world of hurt. Ruiz briefly looked to turn in and reverse, but Amorim was wise to that and adjusted, getting to full mount in the process.
Amorim would next set up an arm-triangle choke, but Ruiz defended that. Back to ground n’ pound went Amorim, with Ruiz trying to buck her off, flailing on the bottom. Amorim added an elbow or two, just nasty, then transitioned to an arm-bar attempt. Hammerfists again rained down at the end of the round, only for Ruiz to be saved by the bell — but she had likely given up another 10-8 round given how one-sided things were.
Saved by the bell 🔔🔔🔔
We go to R3! #UFCVegas78 pic.twitter.com/28eWCVawYe
— UFC (@ufc) August 12, 2023
Round three opened with an Amorim leg kick. Ruiz missed with a high kick, and Amorim fanned on one of her own. Another kick did land for Amorim, but Ruiz went on the attack and actually got on top in a takedown. But Amorim had basically accepted that takedown, closing her guard and hitting the body from bottom. Given how far up on the scorecards Amorim was, she likely felt comfortable on her back even if Ruiz won the round — which was no guarantee with Amorim’s ground skills. Ruiz worked in a bit of ground n’ pound, then fended off a sweep. The next sweep saw Amorim using a Kimura to get on top, where she began dropping ground n’ pound, bringing in the ref to wave things off!
Official Result: Jaqueline Amorim def. Montserrat Ruiz by TKO (ground n’ pound), Round 3, 3:41
